Friday, June 26, 2009

So, my hubby gave me my birthday present REALLY early. It's a BeBook!!! YAY!!! It's really awesome, and it's light, and it's nice to read for hours on end, and you push buttons instead of turning pages!!! Okay... I was a bit excited there... (but buttons are so much fun!!!)

I would recommend a bebook or similar device for anyone who has troubles with heavy/awkward books. Or for anyone who downloads books, but can't look at a computer screen for hours on end. Or even more practically, if you're going to school, instead of carrying around 50 pounds of books, you could carry an ebook with all of your necessary reading material in it, and it doesn't weigh much at all or take up much space (the only difficulty would be finding copies of the books online, and most schools don't offer them except for special circumstances).

I've noticed that the pain in my wrists comes in waves. Sometimes they seem as perfectly functional as I can hope from my body, and other times it's as though if I move them, they might fall off. A bit dramatic sounding, but that's what it feels like.

I've also noticed that my hips and ankles are feeling really loose. I sat in my car too long yesterday, and when I got out, I had to spend about 5 minutes to put my ankle back in place... My neighbour saw me limping slowly toward the house, and asked what was wrong... I told him my foot was on crooked. With my hips it seems like any time I take a step, they click, and when they've had enough clicking, they start to sublux, and once the novelty of that's worn off, they'll throw in a dislocation, and try to introduce my face to the pavement...

On another note, I haven't been sleeping much or well in the last 2 weeks, and I am alternately giddy and zombified...

But thankfully, I can still crochet, and my brother is looking forward to getting his sweater for Christmas :)

Friday, June 5, 2009

So, one of the things I have been grateful for since I have started reading all of the EDSers blogs, is that I haven't had trouble with my hands.

Well, that is no longer the case. For the past two weeks, I've had a weird feeling in my right wrist, like it's fatigued after I write. A few days ago the feeling turned into pain, and it's almost unbearably painful to write more than a few sentences at any one time.

Yesterday, at work I had to staple a rather large file, which meant I had to use the rather large stapler. It's a job that would usually require the use of my right hand to use the lever, and my left hand to steady the paper... When I got to the stapler, I looked at it... It seemed to stare right back at me... So I steadied the paper with my left hand, pushed the lever down enough that I no longer had to steady the paper, then I used BOTH hands to push the lever down. I felt the most sickening feeling I think I'm capable of. My left wrist slid out of place... I don't know exactly how far, but it looked like more than 3/4 of an inch. I immediately looked away and stopped pushing down. My wrist made a wet sucking sound, and slid back into place.

Thankfully it wasn't painful. It didn't swell up, it didn't bruise, but afterward it felt really unstable. It still does, and so does my right wrist.

In the last few days I have been subluxing the joints in my fingers, as usual it takes little or no pressure, and I have to almost massage them back into place. I'm going to start looking for some wrist braces or something, because with my left shoulder as bad as it is I have to drive using my right hand, and it really hurts my wrist when I drive now.

Thankfully (as of 2 days ago) I can still crochet without injuring myself.

Edit:As it turns out crocheting is about the only thing I CAN do without causing severe pain in my wrists. I did dishes last week and almost cried from the pain, and it took me about 2 hours to finish them with all the breaks I needed to take. I've found that I need to set my books down when I'm reading them, because the weight of the book is too much to hold for any length of time. And I was folding laundry on the weekend, and OMG OWWWW... That's all i have to say about that.